molti casi adoperano la voce recharge come parlando di ruote e d’altri attrezzi - Es. Armeria di Rispetto.’5 As a matter of fact, in all the original documents that have been unearthed to-date which deal with the Order’s military storehouses, the title ‘Armeria di Rispetto’ is only encountered once, and then only to refer to the Falconeria in Melita Street which was established as a reserve armoury in 1763 so as to house the older weapons removed from the palace armoury, ‘...che li nominati fucili accommodati e rimontati si conservino nell’armeria della falconeria che dovrà da ora in avanti servire per armeria di Rispetto.’
View of the Palace Armoury showing the columns introduced by the British.
For most of the early half of the 17th century, the Palace Armoury continued to be referred to as the ‘Pubblica Armeria’. This title, as already mentioned earlier in this book, was originally applied to the Armoury situated in the building that later came to be known as the Cancelleria. This designation was also applied to the Order’s armoury when it was still stationed at Fort St Angelo, and Birgu, though not in Rhodes. The first references to it are given by Bosio who states that immediately after the siege Frà Giovanni de Soubiran Arisat, commander of artillery, ‘rimesse benissimo in ordine l’Armeria pubblica accomodata in certi saloni si che fra l’arme comperate da soldati, e l’altre, che s’erano fatte venire dopo l’assedio in piu’ volte: la sudetta armeria si trova cosi ben fornita, e cosi politamente tenuta, e ben conservata, che tutti i forestieri poi ch’in Malta capitavano l’andavano a vedere, come cosa notabile.’ Once in Valletta, the armoury was set up in a number of places prior to its establishment in Piazza San Giorgio. The earliest record is for a magazine in Strada Forni, next to the Order’s bakery.6 This store continued to figure on the books of the artillery department well into the 18th century.
Detail from a ground floor plan of the Palace showing the Sala Lascaris and the flight of steps which gave access directly from the courtyard.
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